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News

Berkeley Campus Gun Scare Was False Alarm

Supriya Yelimeli (BCN)
Wednesday August 29, 2018 - 01:24:00 PM

A report of a person with a gun at University of California at Berkeley today was a private armored guard who was authorized to be on campus, police said. 

Police said at 11:50 a.m. that a person with a gun was sighted near the Martin Luther King Jr. and Cesar Chavez student buildings in Lower Sproul Plaza.  

Both buildings were placed on lockdown shortly after noon, according to UC Berkeley officials. 

Police reported that the area was clear at 12:24 p.m. and that the armored guard had "legitimate business" on the campus.


Opinion

Editorials

Let's Take Back the Speaker Along with the House

Becky O'Malley
Tuesday August 28, 2018 - 11:53:00 AM

The only time I ever saw Nancy Pelosi in person was at a 2012 fundraiser for Ami Bera, the second time he ran for Congress in a Sacramento-area district which was at best on the edge. He’d lost a previous run, as I recall, but it was a close race and he was trying again, benefited by a re-drawn district.

This was not an event for the big-time donors, not held in a Pacific Heights mansion, but in a routine San Francisco restaurant with admission price about on a par with a ticket to a San Francisco Symphony concert. I went out of curiosity, wondering where the middle of the road, not my usual hangout, was going. Bera was of interest in particular because he’s a physician, and health care was and is a crucial need, not just a lefty’s dream.

Nancy Pelosi (then House Minority Leader) was a surprise guest, dropping in towards the end of the party to make a very brief speech before she worked the room on Bera’s behalf. When she got to my corner, for some reason I chose to ask her an arcane question about an obscure Ohio race that I’d been wondering about.

To my genuine amazement she gave me a detailed specific answer, with all the facts at her fingertips and cleverly analyzed to boot. She’s usually been depicted in the media as charming, shrewd and a terrific fundraiser, but smart as a whip on fine points of issues? Not often mentioned, but clearly her ace in the hole.

So what’s this cryto-campaign by some smart-ass young-uns who think saying they won’t vote for Pelosi to be Speaker of the House will help them get elected to Congress? Exactly what’s that all about?

Most of these wannabes are running as Republicans-lite in districts where Clinton did relatively well against Trump. One special election Democratic winner, Colin Lamb, even ran commercials showing himself with his guns, presumably angling for the NRA vote. Ugh. 

There was a recent rundown on this trend in the St. Louis Post Dispatch, with a link to a Vox list of Democrats trying to run against Pelosi. Just FYI, in California one of them is Andrew Janz, the person running against the hated Trump surrogate Devin Nunes. He will be asking you for money sometime soon: let your conscience be your guide. 

There was an excellent interview with Congresswoman Pelosi on KQED’s Political Breakdown show last week: Nancy Pelosi on Running Against a 'Culture of Corruption,' Challenges to Her Leadership, and Dark Chocolate. She pointed out that the main reason Republicans want to run against her is that she’s effective, and that’s true. But I think there’s more when ambitious Dems try the same trick.. 

Any woman who’s been in a position of power after the age of about 45 is familiar with what might be called the Baba Yaga factor. There’s a reason that witches, including the Russian ones who live in the forest, are most often depicted as old women. When a woman has been around for close to a half century she knows where the bodies are buried, and that’s bound to scare the young folks, male and even female.  

It’s sometimes said that older people can’t understand the point of view of younger ones. But old people have been both young and old, though young people have never been old, which gives the old an information edge. 

Pelosi’s detractors like to suggest that younger leadership is needed because ________________. Fill in the blank yourself.  

It’s true that younger people are sometimes more energetic that older people, but in the radio interview Nancy Pelosi amusingly pointed out that she’d had five children (all aged six and younger at one point) but had more than enough energy left over after they’d mostly grown up to take on Congress. 

With seemingly boundless energy, she can still out-organize, not to mention out-orate, most of her younger colleagues. Remember her eight-hour marathon attempt to bring DACA to the floor of the house? 

Her current frustration comes from a problem not of her own devising. While she was busy keeping the federal House in line, Democratic National Commitee functionaries allowed Republican-dominated state legislatures to gerrymander enough congressional districts to capture a phony majority in Congress, just as they captured enough Electoral College votes to defeat a popular vote Democratic majority in 2016. Recent revelations about Russian hacking of DNC files, another cause of the 2016 election defeat, can’t be blamed on Pelosi either. Nevertheless, she’s managed to keep her troops together since them, waiting for this year’s election. 

Now, because Donald Trump’s cronies have managed to turn the Washington swamp into The Alligators’ Ball, the Democrats have a chance to retake the House. Sadly, the usual Democratic circular firing squad is already being assembled.  

The moderates who denounce California’s leftish tendencies are out in force.And right on cure, the right-wing media, the Moony-owned Washington Times and its ilk, is trying to gin up some anti-Pelosi action oni the left, but it doesn’t seem to be getting much traction so far. When cute-as-a-button Socialista Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez beat out Pelosi’s putative successor as Speaker, she was tempted by interviewers to denounce the mnority leader, but so far she’s resisted the temptation. 

Triumphal press releases from Berniecrats this week celebrate recent changes in DNC rules to reduce the power of superdelegates, office-holders and other dignitaries, to vote in national conventions without being elected as delegates. That might be fine, but be careful what you wish for. The risk of unintended consequences is always present. Opponents of the change expressed apprehension that since local officials are often more heavily African-American and Latinx that might result in a Whiter convention in 2020.  

If the Republicans had allowed superdelegates in 2016, moderates (yes, there were still some moderate Republicans way back then) might have been able to stop Trump. Even the sainted Dems risk having their own Manchurian Candidate in the wrong circumstances. 

All in all, if (knock on wood) the Democrats do take back the House, they would be world-class foolish to dump Nancy Pelosi in favor of one of the several eager young white guys who’d like her job. Just this morning I heard the loudest among them, Tim Ryan from Ohio, on the radio enthusing over Trump’s touted “Mexico-U.S.” trade deal, which is supposed to replace NAFTA. 

Say what? It’s about as much of a deal as that one with North Korea. No way a wise old woman like Nancy Pelosi would be fooled by it, but Ryan seemed to be.  

There’s a sucker born every minute, isn’t there? But there’s no reason to make one Speaker of the House. 

Having said all this, there’s a Young White Guy running in the nearby 10th Congressional District who deserves your support. Josh Harder made an appearance last night at an event sponsored by the Wellstone Democratic Club and Barbara Lee, and he seems to be the real deal. His no-notes speech touched all the right points for a very critical East Bay audience—didn’t get a single hostile question, which is almost unheard of. And also, thank goodness, he didn’t say a word about dumping Nancy Pelosi. If you’d like to help elect him, go to https://www.harderforcongress.com/ for the opportunity; 


Public Comment

When Women Are The Main Breadwinners

Harry Brill
Saturday August 25, 2018 - 12:22:00 PM



Despite the gain in earnings that many women have made, obtaining equality is a long way off. The current wage gap of 80.5 percent of male earnings is still substantial. As a result, women who work full time year-round are losing on the average over $10,000 a year. Moreover, If working women were receiving equal pay with men, their poverty rate would be cut in half.

Yet as revealing as this summary statistic is, it also conceals very important, contrary data. In over a third of all husband and wife families the woman is the main and in many instances the sole breadwinner. The changes in family work patterns have been considerable since 1970, when in almost half of all families only the father was employed. Now. the male as the sole family provider is in the minority.

In the last few decades, an increasing number of women have been entering the labor market. Women, who comprised fewer than thirty percent of the workforce in 1950 ,now make up 47 percent. In fact, the Department of Labor predicts that women for the first time in history will soon constitute a majority of working people.

Many women have been successfully competing for jobs that were once held only by men. Women have been able to do so in part because an increasing number have been going to college. In fact, they have been exceeding the number of males who receive higher education degrees. 

Women currently earn about 57 percent of all bachelor's degrees, 60 percent of all masters, and 51 percent of all doctorates. Although these achievements have not been enough to close the gender wage gap, it explains why many women have increased their income and have also become major breadwinners. Women in the last four decades have averaged a wage increase of 30 percent. Also, the gender wage gap for full time women workers has narrowed in the last four decades from 60 to 80.5 percent. 

Unfortunately, another very important reason women seem to be catching up is that men are losing ground. Their real wages have for a long while been stagnant. After taking account of inflation the purchasing power of men in the last forty years remains not only unchanged. For some it has even declined. 

Among the problems is that too many jobs are being exported. Over 14 million jobs, including 5 million manufacturing jobs, many which were well paying, have been outsourced to low wage foreign countries. Since 2001 well over 3 million jobs have been shipped to China. In addition, millions of additional jobs have vanished due to the immense loss in purchasing power that the domestic layoffs precipitated. Under the current Trump administration, despite the President's rhetoric, the exodus of jobs is continuing unabated. 

Also, as a result of the very successful legal and political 

assault against unions by business interests, the unions have been devastated. Union membership has decline from around a third of the workforce in the 1950s to currently just under 11 percent and only 6.5 percent in the private sector. Men particularly have been victimized. In 1979, when union membership peaked, almost 70 percent were male. Before the unions were busted, their earnings were up to 30 percent more than non-unionized workers. Now, according to the Brooking Institution, after taking account of inflation, men have not gotten a collective raise since 1973.  

Due to the beating many men have been taking, women have been replacing men as the main family provider. According to the US Department of Labor, in families where both spouses are working, the wives in 29 percent of these families earns more than their spouses. When the Department of labor also includes unemployed spouses, who made no financial contribution to their families, women are the primary breadwinners in 38 percent of these households. 

In a household where the woman is the primary bread winner, this arrangement can generate considerable marital tension and can even result in divorce. The patriarchal role that men have been playing, which has been rooted in their being the main breadwinner, has certainly been very problematic. As more women are becoming the main breadwinner, the risk is that some will be tempted to play a similar role. The version of feminism that favors the dominance of women could be reinforced in families where women are the main providers.  

The best route by far for a successful marriage is an egalitarian relationship in which both spouses see themselves as equal partners regardless of the different family roles they play. According to the research of John Gottman, who has interviewed thousands of married couples, spouses who treat each other as equal partners are much less likely to divorce and are more likely to have a happy marriage. Those who make the effort to build an egalitarian marriage will eventually see, according to an old metaphorical expression, the light at the end of the tunnel. 


Why Should BART Be Offered Zoning Power?

Zelda Bronstein
Saturday August 25, 2018 - 05:07:00 PM

In recent weeks, I’ve asked why Mayor Arreguín hasn’t vocally opposed Assembly Bill 2923, the state legislation that would remove zoning authority over BART stations in Alameda, Contra Costa, and San Francisco counties from the host cities and give it to BART. On May 29, he voted with the council majority to oppose the bill and staunchly defended community say in land use. But his name was missing from the strong letter of opposition signed by ten other mayors and published on August 4 in the East Bay Times. He’s continued to remain silent, leaving Berkeleyans to speculate on the reasons for his reticence. 

I think I’ve stumbled over a clue. On May 22, Arreguín sent an email to Housing Advisory Commissioners Darrell Owens and Igor Tregub, members of the HAC Subcommittee on North Berkeley BART. Here’s the revealing passage: 

“Any development on this site must be done in partnership with BART, as it is their property. We must work with them and [be] consistent with their TOD Guidelines to develop any implementing zoning.” 

If I read this correctly, first, Arreguín thinks that when it comes to land use policy, property-owners are equal partners with municipal authorities; and second, in this case, that the City of Berkeley must defer to BART—a special use district agency—and follow its TOD [Transit-Oriented Development] Guidelines. 

The first supposition is troubling. Zoning is the proper prerogative of cities and counties, not special use district agencies. Arreguín must know that. 

The second supposition is also disquieting. If AB 2923 becomes state law, Berkeley and other Alameda, Contra Costa, and San Francisco cities with BART stations will indeed have to follow BART’s TOD Guidelines. But AB 2923 has yet to be enacted. In this coming week, it will either pass on the Assembly floor or die. Apparently Arreguín’s silence on the bill reflects his assumption that it’s going to pass, which means he’s sucking up to BART. 

To those who, like myself, supported his mayoral campaign in hopes of boldly democratic leadership in the Berkeley Mayor’s office, this pandering is a big disappointment.


Columns

THE PUBLIC EYE:Elizabeth’s Big Idea

Bob Burnett
Saturday August 25, 2018 - 12:14:00 PM

As the United States approaches the critical November 6th midterm elections, Democratic candidates convey three themes: costs, wages, and corruption. While aspects of the corruption theme are readily apparent -- almost every week some Republican big wig is indicted for corruption, what has been lacking is a "big picture" proposal to address inequity. Now, Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren has proposed a sweeping reform of capitalism. 

Democrats have winning messages on costs and wages. Costs because consumer prices are increasing for health care, housing, and energy. Wages because Trump's economic policies have increased corporate profits but this hasn't translated to more money in the wallets of working families. (Republican largesse has enabled corporations to raise their dividends, increase CEO salaries, and buy back their stock; but it hasn't benefited their employees.) 

Democrats also have a winning issue on corruption. As each days passes, there's more evidence of corruption in the Trump administration -- this week saw Trump's campaign manager, Paul Manafort, convicted of financial crimes, and Trump's personal attorney, Michael Cohen, plead guilty to campaign finance violations. (This week we also saw an early Trump supporter, California Congressman Duncan Hunter, indicted for misuse of campaign funds.) 

Although these events support a Democratic campaign narrative of "rot at the top," they do not address what is really happening in American society: Capitalism is failing working Americans. (One of 2018's savage ironies is that Donald Trump, who ran as a populist candidate, has abandoned America's workers.) 

That's why Senator Elizabeth Warren's proposal, The Accountable Capitalism Act (https://www.warren.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases/warren-introduces-accountable-capitalism-act? ), is important: This act seeks a fundamental reform in capitalism; one that will make capitalism work for all Americans -- not just the top 1 percent. Senator Warren noted that in the last forty years there has been a fundamental shift in the relationship of large corporations and American society: “In the early 1980s, large American companies sent less than half their earnings to shareholders, spending the rest on their employees and other priorities... But between 2007 and 2016, large American companies dedicated 93% of their earnings to shareholders. Because the wealthiest 10% of US households own 84% of American-held shares, the obsession with maximizing shareholder returns effectively means America’s biggest companies have dedicated themselves to making the rich even richer." Warren observed, "Real wages have stagnated even as productivity has continued to rise. Workers aren't getting what they've earned." 

To change corporate behavior, Senator Warren's Accountable Capitalism Act has four components. 1. Charter Reform. "Big corporations that make more than $1 billion a year in revenue would need to get new charters from the federal government. Those new charters would make it clear that the companies must consider the interests of their workers – and other people affected by the company – not just shareholders." In other words, corporation would need to consider the needs of their employees; not just the need for equitable wages but other needs such as healthcare and childcare -- and environmental safety. 

2. Worker Participation: "Workers would elect at least 40% of board members for big corporations – giving them seats at the table when big decisions need to be made." It's estimated that this would affect 3500 public US companies -- and hundreds of private companies. 

3. CEO compensation: "Top corporate executives are now compensated primarily in company equity, which gives them huge financial incentives to focus exclusively on shareholder returns. To make sure CEOs are focused on the long-term success of the company, rather than the short-term interests of shareholders, executives at big corporations wouldn't be able to sell company shares for at least five years after receiving them – and for at least three years after a stock buyback." 

4. Political Contributions: "Corporate executives wouldn't be able to use company dollars to make political contributions unless they got approval from 75% of directors and shareholders. This ensures any political expenditures benefit all corporate stakeholders." 

5. Consequences: "Permits the federal government to revoke the charter of a United States corporation if the company has engaged in repeated and egregious illegal conduct. State Attorneys General are authorized to submit petitions to the Office of United States Corporations to revoke a United States corporation's charter. If the Director of the Office finds that the corporation has a history of egregious and repeated illegal conduct and has failed to take meaningful steps to address its problems, she may grant the petition." 

Senator Warren's proposal is likely to get little traction in a Republican-controlled Congress. Nonetheless, it's an important idea. One that should get the attention of all Democratic candidates. We have to reform American capitalism and Elizabeth Warren has suggested a significant first step. 

Bob Burnett is a Berkeley writer and activist. He can be reached at bburnett@sonic.net 


ON MENTAL ILLNESS: Acceptance

Jack Bragen
Saturday August 25, 2018 - 12:01:00 PM

There are numerous things that society, people, and the mental health treatment systems expect from mentally ill people, and these expectations are often unreasonable.

When a person with a psychiatric disability is facing expectations from others that such person could not possibly fulfill, sometimes he or she experiences an overload, or a "does not compute" which can result in breaking down. Society is set up intentionally to make mentally ill people fail. That is the only conclusion I can draw, when I look at my entire history, which is riddled with me being sabotaged and attacked. Also, if I look at the outcome of so many other people with my problem, their lives almost always end in tragedy. This tragedy could be an early death, or it could mean being permanently incarcerated or institutionalized. Society and people are set up to prove that they were right about us. They then create circumstances that are unsolvable.

Many people may feel this way. What can you do in a situation that is clearly impossible to resolve? You must learn to accept the unacceptable. This idea did not come from me, it came from a spiritual teacher who was teaching a form of Buddhism. 

Regardless of your religious affiliation, and any automatic dismissal of a religious practice other than yours, you need to acknowledge that if you are in the path of a speeding bus, you have to get out of the way. A Buddhist might say, "If you don't get out of the way of the bus, you will die. If you get out of the way of the bus, you will die of something else." 

It will not help you to accuse the bus of being a bad bus, to accuse the driver of bad driving, or to feel sorry for yourself over your premature death. The laws of physics do not care about right or wrong or about your lamenting. You can not bribe the bus, reason with it, or play mind games with it or with yourself over it; the bus is headed your way. 

Acceptance can allow people to do better. Part of acceptance is the simple acknowledgment of facts. If you do not acknowledge facts because they are too painful, then you go into a system of denial. If this denial happens too much, an incorrect neural route is established that leads to becoming sick. This is part of what goes wrong in the minds of psychotic people. 

I have schizophrenia, paranoid-type. Yet, people expect me to function as they believe they would function--in a "normal" way. I'm sorry, but I am not normal. If people can not make an allowance for my problems, it seems that I am the one who suffers. When I do not act in a way that people can understand, they decide that I am the devil. I am not the devil; I am disabled. This affects how I act and think and speak. 

I am in the process of solving my circumstances without blaming anyone. Many who work in the mental health treatment system are good intentioned, and many have helped me a lot. Treatment practitioners want to see respect and cooperation. They want to see that we are making an effort to do the right thing. Some may have ulterior motives. However, it is probably paranoid of me to believe that "they are out to get me." 

Part of the role of treatment practitioners is to protect society. If they believe that a person they are treating is a threat, they will act. The only way of us getting through is to participate. 

I do not know to what extent I am being naive. 

However, acceptance is very important for us. We must first acknowledge facts, and then if we can tolerate the discomfort of facing facts, we can head in the right direction. 

Fact: I suffer from paranoia. I am resolving this situation by seeking additional treatment. I will continue writing this column. If you see me absent for a week, don't worry.


ECLECTIC RANT:Global warming is real and it could become irreversible

Ralph E. Stone
Saturday August 25, 2018 - 05:05:00 PM

Empirical evidence shows that global warming is real and is largely caused by man. This is not a theory; it is a fact. If someone tells you that this is not true, then they are lying or stupid or stand to make lots of money by ignoring it. By denying global warming, you have an excuse to do little or nothing about it. Global warming is no longer about science; it is now a political, economic, social debate. In other words, what do we do about global warming? 

It has long been known that humans impact our atmosphere severely and our unrelenting production of carbon dioxide (and other greenhouse gases) increase the effects of the naturally occurring "greenhouse effect" that keeps our planet habitable. The more CO2 we pump into our atmosphere, the warmer the atmosphere gets. This is a scientific fact based on decades of scientific study. The main cause of the increase in global average temperatures in recent history is not because of any natural cycle -- although natural cycles do exist -- it is because of man. 

Earth is noticeably hotter, the weather stormier and more extreme. Polar regions have lost billions of tons of ice; sea levels have been raised by trillions of gallons of water. Far more wildfires rage. The world’s annual temperature has warmed nearly 1 degree (0.54 degrees Celsius). And the temperature in the U.S. has gone up even more — nearly 1.6 degrees. 

NASA satellites have shown three inches of sea level rise in just the past 25 years. With more than 70% of the Earth covered by oceans, a 3-inch increase means about 6,500 cubic-miles of extra water, enough to cover the entire U.S. with water about 9 inches deep. 

In California, for example, scientists predict that in less than 30 years, rising waters will flood about 30,000 homes along the state’s shoreline. This will have a major impact on real estate and housing with the real estate value of the threatened homes estimated to be $15 billion statewide. 

Under Donald Trump, the federal government is doing nothing. Trump has had a lot of things to say about global warming. He’s called it an urgent problem, and he’s called it a hoax. He’s said, the “concept of global warming was created by and for the Chinese in order to make U.S. manufacturing non-competitive.” When he became president, his true intention became clear when he quickly signed an executive order rolling back key Obama-era limits on greenhouse gas emissions. And then he pulled the U.S. out of the Paris Climate Accord, signed by 176 countries and the European Union. 

With so much at stake, why is the Trump administration, and too many in Congress, not addressing climate change head on? It is no mystery to me. These so-called climate change deniers have made a self-interested political decision, rather than a scientific one. By denying climate change, they have an excuse to do little or nothing about it; they don't want to alienate their friends in the fossil fuel industry,  

It is not coincidental that Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and 21 other Republicans, whose campaigns have collected more than $10 million in oil, gas and, coal money since 2012, sent a letter to the president urging him to withdraw from the Paris Climate Accord.  

Does the “public trust doctrine” apply to the federal government’s inaction on global warming, which holds the government responsible for managing natural resources, such as air, land and water, for the benefit of the people? The government officials have known for decades that oil, coal, and other fossil fuels emit carbon dioxide that heats the atmosphere, but have promoted mining and use of those fuels while temperatures reach historic levels. This is the contention of the plaintiffs in Juliana v. United States. 

For a frightening must read about climate change, see Losing Earth: The Decade we almost stopped climate change. A tragedy in two acts, by Nathaniel Rich; Photographs by George Steinmetz. 

One positive is California. California set a goal to reduce the state's greenhouse gas emissions to 1990 levels by 2020 and to 80% below 1990 levels by 2050. The state hit its first target for cutting back on emissions four years ahead of schedule. Much of the state’s success in achieving its goal has come from its growing reliance on renewable energy. 

It is way past time for the Trump administration to develop and implement an action plan at the federal level. It is time to put public health and the environment ahead of corporate interests. Planet Earth is our home; we have no place to evacuate to if our home becomes uninhabitable. 


SMITHEREENS: Reflections on Bits & Pieces:

Gar Smith
Saturday August 25, 2018 - 07:56:00 PM

Roll Out the Barrels

Alarmed that pot-puffing might lead to a decline in suds-sucking, beer-brewer Heinekin has announced plans to purchase Petaluma's Lagunitas Brewery Company, a firm that produces non-alcoholic sparkling water infused with THC, the active ingredient in marijuana. (The brewery's "Hop Water" gives new meaning to the phrase "potable water." Remember, kids: It's important to remain HIGH-drated. Presumably these pot-water bottles will be labeled and thirsty customers will need to be carded before making a purchase.)

We're happy to report that the cafe at the Berkeley Bowl in West Berkeley is already a jump ahead of Heinekin. There were four specialty brews on tap at the coffee counter this week including Lavender Lemonade and "Cannabliss."

Lest there be any mistake, a nearby card touted the benefits of toking CBD (Cannabidiol) via a tasty beverage. According to the signage, CBD is an antidote for fatigue, pain, schizophrenia, anxiety, depression, and nausea and it also "fights cancer, may treat seizures, lowers incidence of diabetes, and promotes cardiovascular health." 

What Was that Word Again? 

KCBS offers a daily "Commute Cash" contest wherein a common, every-day word is announced on-air and listeners are invited to text the word to KCBS for a chance to win $1,000 in a nationwide contest. 

On Friday, July 20, the word was "school." On Thursday, July 19, the word was "habit." But on Wednesday, July 18, the contest took a disturbing turn when the female newscaster announced that the chosen word was . . . "Terror." 

First thought: Could this have been part of some kind of secretive, government-sponsored mass-media psychological experiment? 

Favorite Quote of the Week 

"As one reporter pointed out: 'Now Trump's campaign chairman, national security adviser, and personal lawyers are all admitted or convicted felons.' So much for draining the swamp." -- Nancy Pelosi 

WarSpeech Watch 

On August 21, Robert Cruickshank, the Senior Campaign Manager at Democracy for America "fired off" a "targeted message" to his email audience. The subject line read: 

"Elizabeth Warren just dropped a bombshell." 

Trumpty Dumpty Sat on a Wall… 

Faced with his lawyer's testimony that hush-money was paid to a porn star and a Playboy bunny, Donald Trump has gone from denying that he knew anything about the buy-off to confessing on Fox & Friends that, yes, the hush-money "came from me." He pointed out that this admission would exonerate him from charges of violating campaign financing laws. 

Moving from "didn't happen" to "didn't know it happened" to "didn't pay" to "paid but it wasn't illegal" covers a lot of wiggle room. 

I'm anticipating that Trump's next fall-back position will be to grudgingly admit his guilt—but in a classic self-referential statement: "Frankly, everyone makes mistakes. Nobody is perfect. But, believe me, I'm the most imperfect person you've ever met. I make the best mistakes. Nobody makes mistakes better than me, that I can tell you!" 

Trump's Space Force Farce 

Mike Pence recently test-launched Donald Trump's Space Force farce, calling it "an idea whose time has come." But Pence's use of the Fear Card (citing "a new generation of threats to our people, to our nation") ignores history. 

The US was the first country to plot the militarization of space. In 1959, the Pentagon's "Project Horizon" proposed building a military base on the moon. In 1985, the US was the first nation to attack and destroy a satellite in orbit. 

China has 57 military satellites in orbit. Russia has 83. The US has 157. 

In January 2018, the US refused to join China and Russia in signing a treaty to assure the "Prevention of an Arms Race in Outer Space." 

The Pentagon—which has been unable to win wars on Earth—now wants to toss additional tax-dollars into the black hole of space. Specifically, Trump wants $8 billion to kick-start his new Military-Celestial-Complex. 

Note to the Mike Pence and the White House: Peaceful, freedom-loving nations don't wish to "dominate": that is the core verb favored by totalitarian military dictatorships. 

We're Doomed… I Mean "Domed" 

Now that Donald Trump has called for a Space Force—armed with arsenals of costly orbital weaponry—I think I know what his new 2020 presidential campaign promise will be (assuming he's not impeached, indicted, or otherwise dispatched in the meantime): 

"Forget the Wall. If we want to keep the aliens out, we need to build a big beautiful Dome over the entire country!" 

And he will promise to make the Martians pay for it. 

Donald Trump Channels James Garner 

I just saw a quote from Der Trump that suggests the Reprimander-In-Chief is not only a narcissist and a misogynist but a plagiarist, as well. 

"Money was never a big motivation for me, except as a way to keep score," Donald J. Trump likes to brag. "The real excitement is playing the game." 

Well, it turns out that line appears in a 1963 movie called The Wheeler Dealers in which James Garner declares: "You do it for fun. Money's just the way you keep score." (Film note: "James Garner scores big as Henry, a flimflammer who lands in New York City after his Texas oil well comes a duster.") 

Two other Big Money notables apparently used this quote well before Trump: 

"Money is just a way of keeping score." -- H. L. Hunt 

"Life is a game. Money is how we keep score." -- Ted Turner 

Snapp Decisions 

I rarely visit Facebook but recently I found a note from long-time East Bay journalist/columnist Martin Snapp who announced: 

"Making end-of-life decisions and considering cremation because it's cheaper than burial. Can anyone recommend either a) a good, cheap cremation service or b) another alternative, like turning myself into a tree? Thanks." 

One friendly Facebook couple recommended donating your mortal remains to a medical school. "After a year, the cremated remains were returned, to do with as you wish." 

An SF-based writer offered a caveat: "I had an elderly uncle in New Jersey who just died (he was just short of 95). He tried to make arrangements for his body to be donated to science, as his wife's had been about 10 years ago. But they told him there is now a fee of $800 to donate the body! He opted out of THAT!" 

Former Chronicle columnist Jon Carroll modestly responded: "I'm not sure they want my body." 

And, wouldn't you know, the Facebook side-panel featured a prominent ad for a burial service. But it was kinda cool: "Better Place Forests are America's first spreading-forests. Instead of graves and tombstones, return the ashes of your loved one to the earth under a permanently protected, private family tree. Our first memorial forest is a redwood forest overlooking the Pacific Ocean in Mendocino County, CA." 

This left me wondering: Can you auction your corpse on eBay? In the meantime, I'm contemplating an after-life in a planter box. 

Couldn't Be Sweeter: Willie Brown Tweaks the Tweeter 

In his August 19, Sunday column, Willie Brown wrote: 

Trump says the press should not be reporting "fake news." . . . We could start with his endless tweets, which are sent out over the cable news channels as if they were the golden words of a supreme ruler, rather than what they really are, the childish blather of a sleep-deprived narcissist. 

Maybe we should also boycott Trump's appearances. At least until he gets his facts straight. 

Fair enough. Automatically passing along (and, thus, amplifying) Trump's Tweets is not the proper role of a free press. That isn't journalism: it's an unprofessional public relations exercise. 

Here's one deal the media could offer: No more automatic reprinting of Oval Office Tweets until Trump grows up, agrees to act "presidential," and submits to regular press conferences where he will respond directly to members of the media. 

The Tweeter Cheater Misses the Meter 

Following up on Willie's rant: Since Trump's 24-7 Tweetstorms already have a huge built-in audience, there's really no need for the press to repeat Trump's Tweets. 

As Trump himself Tweeted on June 16, 2017: "The Fake News Media hates it when I use what has turned out to be my very powerful Social Media—More than 100 million people! I can go around them." 

There's only problem: Trump doesn't have 100 million followers. A CNN check at the time found that Trump had only 32.4 million followers. In February 2018, only three celebrities had more than 100 million followers—Katy Perry, Justin Bieber, and (sorry, Donald) Barack Obama. 

More bad news. When it comes to the top 100 Twitter celebs, even when Trump was claiming 52 million followers, that only placed him in spot #18. Adding to the humiliation: Trump trailed CNN, which was ranked #17. 

In June 2018, Trump's Twitter-rep took another hit when 15 million of his alleged followers were deleted when it turned out they were fictitious accounts. (Would you call that "Fake Views"?) 

As Long as We're Renaming Football Teams…. 

I'm all for renaming the Washington Redskins but, while we're at it, how about addressing the Pentagon's grisly habit of naming military helicopters after indigenous Native American nations wantonly slaughtered by US Army troops? 

It's a long list: Apache, Arapaho, Black Hawk, Cayuse, Choctaw, Chinook, Comanche, Creek, Iroquois, Kiowa, Lakota, Mescalero, Mohawk, Navaho, Seminole, and Shawnee? 

And if Jeep wants to keep selling those Cherokee Chiefs, maybe they should offer a free SUV to anyone whose ancestors suffered through the "Trail of Tears"—a notorious forced march that sent the Cherokee Nation on a 1,000-mile trek from their ancestral homelands to new settlements in "Indian Territory," west of the Mississippi. 

Spoiler Alert 

I think I know why Kevin Spacey's latest (and probably last) film only brought in $126 in ticket sales on opening day. (That's like, what? Ten tickets sold nationwide?) 

Message to the Marketing Department: If you're going to feature a super-wealthy actor who's made headlines for being outed as a sexual abuser of young men, don't call your film . . . Billionaire Boys Club. 


Arts & Events

The Berkeley Activist's Calendar

Kelly Hammargren, Sustainable Berkeley Coalition
Saturday August 25, 2018 - 12:19:00 PM

Worth Noting:

Boards, Commissions and Council are still on August recess with few City meetings.

The emergency Homeless Shelter which houses 95 people per night at 9th and University closes after August 31. No new location has been identified.

On Monday the Agenda Committee reviews the proposed agenda for the first City Council meeting after summer recess

On Tuesday there will be community meeting on safety and the recent shooting at San Pablo Park.

Future Events:

There are events and forums planned before the Global Climate Action Summit (GCAS) (September 12 – 14) http://globalclimateactionsummit.org. There is a march on Saturday, September 8 and a forum on Tuesday September 11 with a very impressive list of international presenters.

September 8 - Rise for Climate March (National Day of Action for Climate), 10 am San Francisco https://peoplesclimate.org/takeaction

September 11 - Women’s Assembly for Climate Justice 1:00 pm – 8:30 pm, local and international leaders, free and open to the public, wecaninternational.org/pages/sept2018,



The LeConte Neighborhood is postponing the meeting on Traffic Circles and Peoples Park until the end of September.

 

Sunday, August 26, 2018 

Wellstone Club Endorsement Meeting for November 6 Election, Sun, Aug 26, 10:00 am – 4:00 pm, 390 27th Street, Oakland, Humanist Hall, Agenda: 15th Assembly District, Oakland and Berkeley City Government, State and Local Propositions, only (existing) current members may vote 

http://wellstoneclub.org/event/wellstone-club-endorsement-meeting-for-the-november-6th-election/ 

Monday, August 27, 2018 

Agenda Committee, Mon, Aug 27, 2:30 pm – 3:30 pm, 2180 Milvia, 6th Floor Redwood Conf Room, Agenda: Planning for Thursday, September 13, 2018 City Council Meeting, Consent Calendar: 6.Uptima Business Bootcamp $120,000, 11.establish Resilient Buildings Program Manager, 13. 12 Dock Sections, 14. Central Library Stucco Demolition, 15. Consideration of Accessibility in ADU, 16. Filling Vacancies Human Welfare and Community Action Commission, 17. Urban Forest and Habitat Preservation – preserving and adding trees, 18. Live/Work Inclusionary Units, 19. Green Monday, 20. Oppose S.3157 wireless infrastructure, 21. Standby Officers & Emergency Response Plan, 22. No change to Standards of Inverse Condemnation Wildfire Conf. Committee, 23. Mini-dorm ordinance, 24. Lobbyist Ordinance, 25. ADU Ordinance, 26. Parking Berkeley Way Project, 27. Cannabis, 28 a&b, Vehicle Encampment, 29. BART Plaza Enforcement Policy 

https://www.cityofberkeley.info/Clerk/City_Council/Agenda_Committee__2018_Index.aspx 

Berkeley Rent Stabilization Board – Eviction/Section 8/Foreclosure Committee Meeting, 5:30 pm, 2001 Center St, 2nd Floor Law Library 

http://www.cityofberkeley.info/rent/ 

Housing Advisory Commission – Student Housing Subcommittee, 12:00 pm, 2000 University Au Coquelet, Agenda: council referral on student housing and site selection 

https://www.cityofberkeley.info/Housing_Advisory_Commission/ 

Tax the Rich rally – Mon, Aug 27, 5:00 pm – 6:00 pm top of Solano in front of closed Oaks Theater,  

Tuesday, August 28, 2018 

Community Meeting on Recent Shooting and Safety at San Pablo Park, Tue, Aug 28, 2800 Park St, Frances Albrier Community Center 

 

Wednesday, August 29, 2018 

No City meetings found 

Thursday, August 30, 2018 

Ad-Hoc Sub-Committee on Climate Emergency, Thur, Aug 30, 12:00 pm – 1:30 pm, 2180 Milvia, 5th Floor, Pepperwood Room, Agenda: Forum debrief, next steps 

https://www.cityofberkeley.info/Adhoc_Committee_on_Climate_Emergency/ 

Friday, August 31, 2018 

No City meetings found 

Saturday, September 1, 2018 

No City events listed 

Sunday, September 2, 2018 

No City events listed 

 

 

_____________________ 

 

The meeting list is posted in the Berkeley Daily Planet under Berkeley Activist’s Calendar 

www.berkeleydailyplanet.com 

 

The meeting list is also posted on the Sustainable Berkeley Coalition website. 

http://www.sustainableberkeleycoalition.com/whats-ahead.html 

 

When notices of meetings are found that are posted after Friday 5:00 pm they are added to the website schedule https://www.sustainableberkeleycoalition.com/whats-ahead.html and preceded by LATE ENTRY 

 

Wish to engage in campaigns to flip Republican Congressional Districts, local, state and national events check Indivisible Berkeley https://www.indivisibleberkeley.org/actions and Wellstone Democratic Club, http://wellstoneclub.org 


Wonderful Recordings of Lute Music

Reviewed by James Roy MacBean
Monday August 27, 2018 - 02:22:00 PM

During the 2018 Berkeley Early Music Festival & Exhibition in June, I took time to visit the Exhibition, where rare and unusual instruments were on display and available for musicians to try them out. While at the Exhibition, I was offered four compact discs of music for lute, all produced by Gamut Music. I was asked by the people from Gamut Music if I would review these discs. I replied that I’d be happy to review them but couldn’t promise when I’d have the time to do so. Well, now in the last days of August I am delighted to fulfill my promise.  

For lovers of lute music, these recordings are outstanding. The first CD I chose to listen to was entitled Canto y Danza, performed by Chambure Vihuela Quartet with Carrie Henneman Shaw. The vihuela, similar to a modern lute, developed out of waisted fiddles of the Middle Ages. In fifteenth century Spain, vihuelas (both bowed and plucked) were the favored string instrument of the Spanish nobility and high bourgeoisie. Today’s revival of the vihuela comes as a sideline of the renewed interest in music for the lute. The Chambure Vihuela Quartet performs on four vihuelas of differing sizes and tunings. Soprano Carrie Henneman Shaw is featured as vocalist on many of this CD’s pieces. The music is lively and gracious; and the recording is of outstanding technical quality. 

Indeed, in all four CDs by Gamut Music the technical quality of the recordings is remarkable for its clarity and immediacy. In a CD entitled Orynthology featuring the Venere Lute Quartet, music written by William Byrd, Thomas Tallis, Alfonso Ferrabosco, Thomas Morely, and John Dowland is heard. In a CD entitled Courante, 

French Baroque Lute Duets are performed by Edward Martin and Thomas Walker. The fourth CD is entitled Psyché and features 17th & 18th century lute music by French composers Ennemond “le Vieux” Gaultier, Jacques Gallot, and Robert le Visée, as well as pieces by German composer Sylvius Leopold Weiss. All four of these CDs are highly recommended for lovers of the lute (and the vihuela).


The 2018 Merola Grand Finale

Reviewed by James Roy MacBean
Sunday August 26, 2018 - 10:02:00 AM

Each year, the Merola Opera Program takes in a new class of young singers. In some years, the last two, for example, there is a bumper crop, and the Grand Finale concert at summer’s end features one standout performance after another. This year that is not exactly the case. At the Saturday, August 18 concert at War Memorial Opera House, the overall level of technical artistry on display was high, but the truly incendiary, standout performances were few and far between. This year’s Grand Finale program got under way with Dean Williamson conducting the San Francisco Opera Orchestra in a somewhat subdued rendition of the Overture to Rossini’s L’Italiana in Algeri. Director Marcus Shields employed a unit stage set throughout which consisted of a semicircle of what looked like boxes in an opera house, though two staircases led from ground level to the first tier of three. 

The first vocal number on the program was a duet from Mascagni’s L’amico Fritz, featuring mezzo-soprano Megan Grey as Beppe and tenor Brian Michael Moore as Fritz. Both singers acquitted themselves well. Next came another duet, this time from Berlioz’s Béatrice et Bénédict. Here we enjoyed the first standout performance, as mezzo-soprano Simone McIntosh was a vivacious and vocally splendid Béatrice. On the other hand, tenor Zhengyi Bai was merely adequate as Bénédict. Following this number was soprano Patricia Westley singing “Care compagne…” from Bellini’s La Sonnambula. I expected great things from Patricia Westley, for she had stolen the show as Elisa in Mozart’s Il Re Pastore earlier in Merola’s Summer Season. However, though she handled Bellini’s difficult coloratura quite handily, Patricia Westley’s voice lacked power and failed to project sufficiently. That was not the case, however, for soprano Brittany Nickell who was a powerful Magda in a scene from Puccini’s La Rondine. Brittany Nickell as Magda was one of the highlights of the concert. She also had a bit part as Gräfin in a duet from Richard Strauss’s Capriccio, though the featured singer in this was tenor Christopher Oglesby as Flamand. Oglesby, who earlier in Merola’s Summer Season sang the role of Tom Rakewell in Stravinsky’s The Rake’s Progress, gave a good performance here as Flamand.  

I don’t quite know what to say about South Korean tenor WooYoung Yoon, except to say that he needs a great deal of vocal coaching. Earlier this summer, in a duet from Bizet’s Les Pêcheurs de perles, WooYoung Yoon repeatedly mispronounced the French word “déesse.” Now, singing Tonio’s “Ah, mes amis” from Donizetti’s la Fille du régiment, WooYoung Yoon repeatedly sang the wrong word, substituting the English word “in” for the French word “à” in the phrase “militaire à Paris.” Given the excellent vocal coaching offered by the Merola staff, I can only conclude that WooYoung Yoon’s language facility is sorely lacking, and he apparently doesn’t listen to what he is taught. Oh, and by the way, the nine high C’s he was supposed to sing in this aria were cut short due to shortness of breath, which destroyed the rhythm of the aria and brought it to a sudden halt. In spite of all these shortcomings, he got a good round of applause from the audience, perhaps taking the difficulty of this aria into consideration and rewarding his effort. (I did not join in the applause.) 

In the role of Dinah in Leonard Bernstein’s Trouble in Tahiti, mezzo-soprano Alexandra Urquiola sang well enough, though the role didn’t really offer much opportunity to showcase her voice. However, baritone SeokJong Baek was outstanding as Cascart in the aria “Zazà, piccolo zingara,” from Leoncavallo’s Zazà. Mezzo-soprano Ann McGuire was an adequate Principessa de Bouillon from Cilea’s Adriana Lecouvreur. The first half of the concert concluded with a standout duet from soprano Marlen Nahhas as Elisabetta and tenor Christopher Colmenero as Carlo from Verdi’s Don Carlo.  

After intermission, soprano Kendra Berentsen was excellent as Thaïs in the aria “Ah, je suis seule… Dis-moi que je suis belle.” This was another of the highlights of the concert. Later, bass-baritone Ted Allen Pickell gave a capable but uninspired rendition of Athaniel’s aria “Voilà donc la terrible cité,” also from Thaïs. Tenor Charles Sy sang an aria from Rossini’s rarely heard Otello. Baritone Xiaomeng Zhang was excellent as Ulisse in the aria “Dormo ancora?” from Monteverdi’s Il ritorno d’Ulisse in patria. Tenor Addison Marlor gave a fine account of an aria from Smetana’s rarely heard Prodaná Nevěstna; and soprano Cheyanne Coss teamed up with baritone Jacob Scharfman in a duet from Donizetti’s Don Pasquale. Baritone Andrew Moore sang Papageno, and soprano Patricia Westley sang Papagena in their recognition scene from Mozart’s Die Zauberflöte. Perhaps the vocal highlight of the evening was provided by soprano Meigui Zhang who beautifully sang the role of Gilda in a number from Verdi’s Rigoletto, which also featured a fine performance from baritone Jaeman Yoon as the vengeful jester. The 2018 Merola Grand Finale concluded with all the Merolini joining to sing “Già che il caso ci unisce…Bevo al tuo fresco sorriso,” from Puccini’s La Rondine.